Apple releases third test build of Snow Leopard for testing

The latest build, 10A261, doesn't appear to have many changes from the last, …

Developers last got a test build of Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, back in the beginning of December. Now, according to an Italian website, build 10A261 has been seeded to developers for testing this week.

Though few details are available, a source for Macity said that the user interface is largely untouched. There are a few bug fixes for the Finder, and the build is said to have more stability and speed. Developers are still being asked to focus on printer drivers, third-party apps, and Exchange support. Besides Grand Central and OpenCL, which received some changes in the last build, Exchange support is one of the few major features of Snow Leopard.

Though a presentation by Apple's director of Unix engineering last November suggested a release as early as March, Snow Leopard may need a bit more time before it is fully ready for release. But with Snow Leopard's focus on multi-core processing, chances are good that the release will coincide with new desktop hardware, expected to use newer four- and possibly eight-core processors from Intel.